Transitioning to District-Based Elections

California Voting Rights Act Demand Letter and Proposed Actions

On December 3, 2018, the City received a certified letter from Skenkman & Hughes, alleging the City's method of electing council members through "at-large", as opposed to "by district", violated the California Voting Rights Act (CVRA).

On January 10, 2019, the Citrus Heights City Council adopted a resolution declaring its intent to initiate procedures to transition from at-large elections to district-based elections pursuant to California Elections Code Section 10010 and authorizing related actions. The City intends to and shall consider adoption of an ordinance to transition to a district-based election system as authorized by California Government Code Section 34886 for use in the City's general municipal election for council members, beginning in November 2020, pursuant to California Elections Code Section 21066(c) and Section 10522. The City Council also directed staff to retain and to work with a demographer, and with other appropriate consultants as needed, to provide a detailed analysis of the City's current demographics and any other information or data necessary to prepare a draft map that divides the City into voting districts in a manner consistent with the intent and purpose of the California Voting Rights Act and the Federal Voting Rights Act.

Draw a Map

Instead of being limited to saying you support or oppose a City-prepared ordinance or resolution, you can draw a map yourself!

There are two map-drawing tools available below:

Paper-Only Maps

Draw your proposed map on any city map, or click here to use the PDF map developed for this project. Instructions, including how to submit your proposed map of districts, are on the one page PDF file.

Paper Map with Microsoft Excel Supplement

First, download and save the Excel file to your computer. Then use the Excel file and use the PDF Map of Population Unit ID numbers to assign the Population Units to your desired districts. Excel will provide the resulting demographics for each district.

If you want to see exactly where the various Population Unit boundaries are located you can use this interactive map to zoom in and out on the Population Unit boundaries, and switch back and forth between PopUnit ID number labels and total population labels. There are check-boxes to choose what layers and labels you want to see on the map.